Side bearings for railroad cars



June 1965 J. W. JO-RDAN 3,188,156

sum swarms FOR RAILROAD ems Filed March 4, 1963 INVENTOR.

John W. Jordon BY Attorneys r satisfactory for its intended purpose.

United States Patent r 3,188,156 SKDE BEARINGS FOR RAHJRQAD CARS John W. Jordan, Milwaukee, Wis., assignor of twentyfive percent to Curtis E. Morseil, J13, Miiwaukee, Wis. Filed Mar. 4, 1963, Ser. No. 262,397

. 3 Claims. (Cl. 368-225) This invention relates to improvements in side bearings for railroad cars, and more particularly to an improved roller bearing assembly wherein the roller may be quickly and easily adjusted or replaced.

Roller type sidebearings of the type herein concerned are mounted on the wheeled lower frame, or truck, of a railroad car and are designed to provide support for the upper, body portion of the car when said body starts to tip or cant as the car travels around a curve. Normally, said bearings are spaced a fraction of an inch below the underside of the body, there being two bearings positioned on each side of the center mounting assembly which rotatably supports said body on the truck, and when said body tips or leans to one side it engages against the bearings on that side of the truck and is prevented thereby from tipping further, and possibly derailing the car. Unfortunately, such side bearings require relatively frequent vertical adjustment to maintain the proper clearance between the rollers and the underside of the car body, and the rollers must be replaced periodically because of wear.

In conventional side bearing units, the roller elemen is mounted in a box-like, open-top housing, and when it is desired to replace said roller or toadjust the elevation of the same by positioning shims thereunder, it is necessary to raise the car body by means of a crane or the like in order to provide sufficient vertical space between said body and the top of the bearing housing to permit said roller to be lifted from said housing. This is a diflicult and time-consuming operation. Moreover, and as frequently occurs, if a bearing adjustment is required While the car is out on the road, where no crane is available, the workmen must tediously raise the body by means of jacks, and then support the same on blocks or horses and after the roller has been reset and the body lowered into place again, it is often found that still further adjustments are required, and the entire procedure must be painstakingly repeated. It usually takes three or four men a half day to adjust the hearings on a single car. 1 Heretofore, severalbearing units have been designed to include slotted openings in the lower portion of the housing walls for the insertion or removal of shims, thus allegedly permitting roller adjustments without jacking up the car body, but none of said structures has proven For one thing, when it is desired to remove one or more shims from such a bearing housing, it is necessary for the workman to insert a chisel or similar tool into the slot at one end of the housing and to forcibly hammer said shim out through the slot in the opposite housing wall. This is a tedious operation, and it is made more diflicultbecause of the limited working space between the car body and the truck, particularly since said bearing housings are nor- 7 mally partially hidden behind the car wheels.

and obstructing the entry of anotherthrough the housing slot.

A further and most important shortcoming'of those 1 bearing assemblies wherein it is attempted to facilitate the adjustment of the roller by the provision of shimreceiving openings in the housing walls, is that none of said structures is designed to expedite the removal and replacement of the roller in the event it is worn, or out of round, which occurs relatively frequently. With all of said prior bearing units it is still necessary to laboriously raise the car body with jacks or the like before the roller can be lifted from the top of the housing.

A further criticaldisadvantage of conventional hearing assemblies, and particularly when adjustments are required while the car is on the road and the body must 'be supported on blocks or horses, as described, is that such makeshift supports have been known to collapse under the weight of the car, and more than one railroad employee has been killed or maimed in such a mishap.

With the above considerations in mind, the principal objects of the present invention are to provide a novel side bearing assembly for railroad cars which permits the quick and simple replacement or adjustment of the bearing element by one relatively unskilled workman in a matter of minutes, and without the use of any special tools or equipment, and wherein there is absolutely no danger of injury to the workman.

Further objects of the invention are to provide an improved side bearing assembly which is not only simple and inexpensive in construction, but which improved assembly is so designed that conventional side bearing units can be readily and inexpensively modified to incorporate the novel and advantageous features thereof. With the above and other objects is view, which other objects and advantages of the present structure will become apparent hereinafter, the invention consists of the improved side bearing assembly for railroad cars, and all of its parts and combinations as set forth in the claims, and all equivalents thereof.

In the accompanying drawing, wherein the same reference numerals designate the same parts in all of the views:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary end elevational View of a railroad car showing the improved side bearings comprising the present invention mounted thereon;

FIG. 2 is a perspecitve view of the present bearing unit in its assembled condition; and

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of said unit with the roller withdrawn from the housing.

Referring now more particularly to FIG. 1 of the drawing, the numeral 10 designates one of the transverse struts, or so-called bolsters, mounted on the underside of the upper, body portion of a conventional railroad car, and the numeral 11 designates the corresponding bolster on the wheeled lower frame, or truck portion of the car. As mentioned, the car body is supported on the truck by means of a center support assembly or king pin 12 which permits relative turning movement of said body and truck members when the car travels around a curve. The-improved truck bolster side bearings constituting the present invention have been designated generally by the numeral 13, and, as will be seen, they are mounted on the truck immediately below the underside of the body.

In many instances an upper roller bearing is carried on and depends from the body bolster in in alignment with said truck bearing units 13, but since said upper bearings are not a part of the present invention they have not been shown. approximately three-sixteenths of an inch between the upper surface of said side bearings 13 and the underside of the car body, or the bearings carried thereby, but when the body tips or cants to one side on a curve, or in the event the car is overloaded on one side, it engages the hearings on that side and is prevented thereby from rocking or tipping a suflicient distance to derail the car, the rolling nature of said bearings still allowing turning movement of the body on its center support 12.

Referring now to FIGS. 2 and 3, it will be seen that the novel and improved bearing assembly comprising the present invention includes a base 14 which may be riveted,.bolted, or otherwise suitably permanently mounted on a truck bloster, and projecting upwardly from said base is a rectangular, open-topped housing comprising a pair of parallel side walls 15 and a transverse wall 16 spanning one end thereof. The opposite end of said housing is open as at 17 (FIG. 3), which is a critical feature of the present invention, as will be hereinafter seen.

Formed in and through the housing side walls 15 adjacent the open end 17 thereof are a pair of aligned slots 18 through which an elongated key member 19 may be removably projected to form a closure for said housing end. Said key 19 is provided with apertures 20 therethrough adjacent each end, and in the illustrated embodiment of the invention split pins 21 are projected through said apertures to prevent inadvertent removal of said key. With respect to said key member, incidentally, it is to be understood that the invention is by no means limited to a key exactly as illustrated. What is critical to the present invention, as will become apparent hereinafter, is the concept of a housing having an open end, and having a removable closure therefor. It is contemplated that for some uses an elongated rivet or bolt could be utilized as a key, or it might even be preferred to employ an upright lug or stop member removably insertable in an aperture or bore centered in the base at the housing open end.

Said box-like housing is of a size to receive a cylindrical roller 22 therein, with the roller axis transverse to the longitudinal axis of said housing, and with the upper portion of said roller projecting substantially above said open-top housing, as shown. Such cylindrical rollers are commonly employed as the bearing element in side bearing assemblies of the type herein concerned, but spherical or other forms of bearing elements could also be used, and the invention is by no means to be limited in this respect.

As best appears in FIG. 3, mounted within the housing in the present invention is a roller-supporting member or bed 23 having a bottom 24 upon which the roller 22 may be reinovably seated. While said bed bottom member 24 is flat in the illustrated form of thein'vention, it is also possible to incline the same downwardly from both ends, or to form a concave pocket therein, so that the roller will always be centered. Formed integrally on one end of said bed member 23 is an upright portion 26 which is designed to be positioned adjacent the housing open end, said upright portion preferably being of less height than the housing walls, and there being a cutout 26' in the upper edge of said upright to permit the easy graspng of the same. Formed on the opposite end of said bed member 23 is an upright flange 25 positionable adjacent the housing end wall 16.

One important structural-feature of the present assembly, and which is not too apparent in the drawing, is that the upright end portion 26 of the bed member is not as wide as the distance between the housing side walls, there being a -space between the ends of said upright member and the adjacent housing walls (FIG.

Normally, there is a clearance of 3). Thus any dirt, gravel, sludge, water, or the like collecting in said box-like housing will work itself out through said spaces, and out the housing open end, the normal vibrations of the train being sufficient to accomplish such purging action.

To assemble the novel bearing unit comprising the present invention, the roller 22 is seated on the bed member 2.3 and, if required, shims 29 (FIG. 3) may be positioned beneath said roller to adjust the height of the same. Said member 23 is then inserted into the housing through the open end 17 thereof, and the key 19 is projected transversely through the housing side wall slots 18. The pins 21 are then inserted through the projecting key ends to lock said key in its end-closing position, thus providing a complete four-walled enclosure for the bearing element. When the car inspector determines that the bearing needs certical adjustment to restore the proper clearance, or the roller needs to be replaced because of uneven wear thereon, it is merely necessary for a workman to pull one of the pins 21 and withdraw the key 19 from its position spanning the housing side walls 15. He may then readily grasp the upright end portion 2a: of the roller-supporting bed 23 and manually pull said bed member and roller from the open end 17 of the housing, the upright flange 25 thereon ensuring that the roller is Withdrawn with said member 213.

If it is necessary merely to adjust the elevation of the roller, the workman can quickly add or remove shims as required, positioning said shims either on or beneath the bed, or if the roller has flat or uneven spots on its surface, caused by the pounding and grinding effect of the car body forcibly and repeatedly engaging the same, he can remove and discard said roller and replace it with a new one. The bed 23 is then reinstalled in the housing, and the key 19 mounted therein, and the bearing is again in operative condition.

From the foregoing detailed description it will be seen that with the improved bearing assembly comprising the present invention, one workman can quickly and easily adjust or replace all four bearings on a car in a matter of minutes, and it is unnecessary to tediously elevate the car body by means of jacks or the like as in conventional bearing structures, or to take the car into a shop for said work.

An important consideration in connection with the improved bearing assembly comprising the present invention is that many of the box-type heating units in present use can be easily and inexpensively modified to incorporate the advantageous features thereof, it being necessary merely to remove one of the end walls in a conventional bearing housing, and to form side wall openings to receive a transverse, removable key. The bed member 23 may then be mounted therein, and the improved unit is complete.

It is to be understood, of course, that various changes and modifications may be made in the stnucture hereinabove described without departing from the spirit of said invention, and all of such changesmor modifications are contemplated as may come within the scope of the following claims.

What I claim is:

1. A side bearing assembly for railroad cars, comprising: a rectangualr housing adapted to be mounted on a railroad car truck bolster, said housing having a bottom, having an open top, having a pair of spaced upright side walls, and having a closure at one end between said side walls, the opposite housing end being open; a cylindrical bearing element movably carried in and projecting above said housing, said cylindrical bearing element being substantially smaller in diameter than the distance between the ends of said housing and being freely rollable therebetween, the closure at one end of said housing preventing said movable bearing element from passing through and out said housing end; and a second closure member removably positionable between said side walls at the open References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,868,393 7/32 Middle-burst 308-224 2,739,853 3/56 Hicks 308-226 FOREIGN PATENTS 585,259 10/59 Canada.

0 FRANK SUSKO, Primary Examiner.

ROBERT C. RIORDON, Examiner. 

1. A SIDE BEARING ASSEMBLY FOR RAILROAD CARS, COMPRISING: A RECTANGULAR HOUSING ADAPTED TO BE MOUNTED ON A RAILROAD CAR TRUCK BOLSTER, SAID HOUSING HAVING A BOTTOM, HAVING AN OPEN TOP, HAVING A PAIR OF SPACED UPRIGHT SIDE WALLS, AND HAVING A CLOSURE AT ONE END BETWEEN SAID SIDE WALLS, THE OPPOSITE HOUSING END BEING OPEN; A CYLINDRICAL BEARING ELEMENT MOVABLY CARRIED IN AND PROJECTING ABOVE SAID HOUSING, SAID CYLINDRICAL BEARING ELEMENT BEING SUBSTANTIALLY SMALLER IN DIAMETER THAN THE DISTANCE BETWEEN THE ENDS OF SAID HOUSING AND BEING FREELY ROLLABLE THEREBETWEEN, THE CLOSURE AT ONE END OF SAID HOUSING PREVENTING SID MOVABLE BEARING ELEMENT FROM SAID PASSING THROUHG AND OUT SAID HOUSING END; AND A SECOND CLOSURE MEMBER REMOVABLY POSITIONABLE BETWEEN SAID SIDE WALLS AT THE OPEN END OF SAID HOUSING TO PREVENT SAID ROLLABLE BEARING ELEMENT FROM PASSING THROUGH AND OUT SAID HOUSING END WHEN IN USE, SAID SECOND CLOSURE MEMBER BEING MANUALLY REMOVABLE TO PERMIT THE WITHDRAWAL OF SAID BEARING ELEMENT FROM SAID HOUSING NECESSARY ADJUSTMENT OR REPLACEMENT. 